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Domino effect may make climate change goals moot

A scientific study says that the global warming target reached at the 2015 Paris climate agreement may not stop a domino effect from moving the Earth well beyond it, into catastrophic scenarios.

A new study says that the global warming target set at the 2015 Paris climate agreement may be too little to stop catastrophic temperature rises. The goal of the accord is to keep the world's average temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius above what it was before the industrial revolution.

Even 2 degrees comes with its own dangers, but is widely considered a tipping point for the planet. We're currently at 1 degree Celsius and rising.

The latest study was conducted jointly by the Australian National University, University of Copenhagen and other institutes. It says even if that goal was met, other processes that have already been worsened by climate change may carry the Earth up to 4 to 5 degrees higher.

Processes such as melting polar ice and methane releasing from the sea floor. A rise of that magnitude would make new regions of the planet uninhabitable in time.And in the short term, scenes like the rare heatwave currently hitting Europe will become much more common.

Along with the disasters that accompany it. It may all be a moot point though.

The United Nations has previously warned the voluntary greenhouse gas reductions agreed in Paris may not be enough to reach the 2 degrees target anyway.Even if governments kept to their pledges.

Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it altogether. (Reuters)

A scientific study says that the global warming target reached at the 2015 Paris climate agreement may not stop a domino effect from moving the Earth well beyond it, into catastrophic scenarios.

A new study says that the global warming target set at the 2015 Paris climate agreement may be too little to stop catastrophic temperature rises. The goal of the accord is to keep the world's average temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius above what it was before the industrial revolution.

Even 2 degrees comes with its own dangers, but is widely considered a tipping point for the planet. We're currently at 1 degree Celsius and rising.

The latest study was conducted jointly by the Australian National University, University of Copenhagen and other institutes. It says even if that goal was met, other processes that have already been worsened by climate change may carry the Earth up to 4 to 5 degrees higher.

Processes such as melting polar ice and methane releasing from the sea floor. A rise of that magnitude would make new regions of the planet uninhabitable in time.And in the short term, scenes like the rare heatwave currently hitting Europe will become much more common.

Along with the disasters that accompany it. It may all be a moot point though.

The United Nations has previously warned the voluntary greenhouse gas reductions agreed in Paris may not be enough to reach the 2 degrees target anyway.Even if governments kept to their pledges.